Peter Naholo is a Namibian politician and former trade unionist. Naholo was a combatant with the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), the military wing of the SWAPO liberation movement. In 2009, he was placed sixth on the National Assembly list for the newly formed Rally for Democracy and Progress and earned a seat in the National Assembly of Namibia. On 14 September 2010, Naholo and 8 other opposition NA members were sworn in after boycotting the National Assembly due to electoral irregularities in the 2009 general election. [1] On 19 October 2010, Naholo gave his first speech a member of the National Assembly; in that speech, Naholo asserted that some SWAPO politicians had enriched themselves through government since independence before being shouted down and asked to withdraw the accusation by Speaker Theo-Ben Gurirab. Later in the same session, several members of SWAPO accused Naholo and other RDP members of enriching themselves while in government as SWAPO members. [2]
Naholo was the Secretary General of the Mineworkers Union of Namibia from 1993 to 2001. [3]
The South West Africa People’s Organisation, officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia. Founded in 1960, it has been the governing party in Namibia since the country achieved independence in 1990. The party continues to be dominated in number and influence by the Ovambo ethnic group.
Theo-Ben Gurirab was a Namibian politician who served in various senior government positions. He served as the second Prime Minister of Namibia from 28 August 2002 to 20 March 2005, following the demotion and subsequent resignation of Hage Geingob. Previously he was the country's first Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1990 to 2002, and was President of the United Nations General Assembly from 1999 to 2000. He was Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia from 2005 to 2015, when he was replaced by Peter Katjavivi. Gurirab ultimately resigned from politics in 2015.
Hidipo Livius Hamutenya was a Namibian politician. A long time leading member of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), Hamutenya was a member of the Cabinet of Namibia from independence in 1990 to 2004. He was defeated in a bid for the party's presidential nomination in 2004 and left SWAPO to form an opposition group, the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), in 2007. He was elected to the National Assembly of Namibia with RDP in the 2009 general election. He was forced to step down as RDP President on 28 February 2015 and rejoined SWAPO on 28 August 2015.
Hifikepunye Lucas Pohamba is a Namibian politician who served as the second President of Namibia from 21 March 2005 to 21 March 2015. He won the 2004 election overwhelmingly as the candidate of SWAPO, the ruling party, and was reelected in 2009. Pohamba was the president of SWAPO from 2007 until his retirement in 2015. He is a recipient of the Ibrahim Prize.
Marco Mukoso Hausiku was a Namibian politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Namibia from 2010 to 2015. Previously he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2010. In 2017 he was elected Deputy Secretary-General of the Swapo Party at the party's 6th Congress.
Herman Andimba Toivo ya Toivo was a Namibian anti-apartheid activist, politician and political prisoner. Ya Toivo was active in the pre-independence movement, and is one of the co-founders of the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) in 1960, and before that, its predecessor the Ovamboland People's Organization (OPO) in 1959.
Libertina Inaviposa Amathila is a Namibian physician and politician. She was the Deputy Prime Minister of Namibia from 2005 to 2010.
Jerry Lukiiko Ekandjo is a Namibian politician, former anti-apartheid activist and political prisoner. He is one of the founding members of the SWAPO Youth League and has been one of the most active internal leading members of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) during the liberation struggle. He spent eight years in prison on Robben Island after being charged for inciting violence in 1973. Ekandjo has been a member of the Cabinet of Namibia from independence in 1990 until 2018, serving the SWAPO government in various ministerial positions. His last appointment was Minister of Youth and Sport since 2012, from which he was recalled in early 2018. Previously he was Deputy Minister of Local Government and Housing from 1990 to 1995, Minister of Home Affairs from 1995 to 2005, Minister of Lands and Resettlement from 2005 to 2008, and Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development from 2008 to 2012.
Utoni Daniel Nujoma is a Namibian politician who serves as Minister of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation since March 2020. He has served in various government ministerial positions in the government since 2010.
Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana is a Namibian politician who served as the secretary-general of the South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) from 2007 to 2012. She was also minister of Justice from 2005 to 2012 and minister of Home Affairs from 2012 until February 2018 when president Hage Geingob relieved her off her duties in a cabinet reshuffle.
General elections were held in Namibia on 27–28 November 2009. They were the fourth general elections since independence and the fifth democratic elections. Voting ended on 28 November and official election results, released on 4 December, showed that Hifikepunye Pohamba and his SWAPO Party were re-elected, each with over 75% of the vote. Prior to the election, the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) was widely expected to score a landslide victory, with the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) considered SWAPO's biggest challenger. Fourteen political parties competed for seats in the National Assembly of Namibia, and twelve candidates ran for the Presidency.
Reverend Dr Kaptein Hendrik Witbooi was a Namibian politician and the seventh Captain of the ǀKhowesin clan. A member of SWAPO from 1976 until his death, Witbooi brought with him several clans of Namaqua into the liberation organisation.
Joel Natangwe Kaapanda is a Namibian politician. A member of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), Kaapanda was a member of the National Assembly of Namibia from November 2002 to March 2015. He served in cabinet as Minister of Regional and Local Government and Housing from 2002 to 2005 and as Minister of Information and Communication Technology from March 2005 to March 2015. Previously he was Namibia's first High Commissioner to India from 1995 to 2002.
Kazenambo Kazenambo was a Namibian politician. A member of SWAPO, Kazenambo was first elected to the 4th National Assembly of Namibia in 2005. He then served as Deputy Minister of Local and Regional Government, Housing and Rural Development until 2010, and as Minister of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture until 2012. He was a member of SWAPO's Politburo.
Erastus Amutenya Uutoni is a Namibian politician who has served in the Cabinet of Namibia since March 2010. He was appointed the Minister of Urban and Rural Development in March 2020 in President Hage Geingob's second-term cabinet.
Steve Bezuidenhout is a Namibian politician. A Coloured Namibian, Bezuidenhoudt is the Interim President of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP). He joined SWAPO in 1989 and was active until he left to help form the RDP. He was elected to the National Assembly of Namibia as an RDP candidate in the 2009 general election.
Agnes Mundia Limbo is a Namibian politician. A member of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), she was named the Deputy Secretary of the party at their founding conference in December 2008. She was elected to the National Assembly of Namibia with RDP in the 2009 general election.
William Werner Mwaningange is a Namibian politician who has served in the Cabinet of Namibia as Deputy Minister of Defence since 2015. A member of SWAPO, Mwaningange was elected to the National Assembly of Namibia in the 2009 general election. He previously served as Governor of Ohangwena Region and since 2008 he has been a member of the SWAPO Central Committee.
Clara ǁGowases was a Namibian teacher and politician. Gowases was elected the chairperson of the Republican Party in September 2009 and subsequently listed second on the party's electoral list for the 2009 general election. Gowases missed out on being elected to the National Assembly as the party only won a single seat. In the February 2010 regional elections, Gowases ran to represent Windhoek Rural in the Regional Council of Khomas Region and was narrowly defeated by SWAPO's Frederick Arie. In March 2011, party president and National Assembly member Henk Mudge resigned and Gowases replaced him in both posts. She was a teacher by profession.
Peter Hitjitevi Katjavivi is a Namibian politician who is the Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia since March 2015 and the chancellor of the Namibia University of Science and Technology from 1992 to 2003. Previously he was the founding Vice-Chancellor of the University of Namibia from 1992 to 2003, Ambassador to the European Union from 2003 to 2006, Ambassador to Germany from 2006 to 2008, and Director General of the National Planning Commission from 2008 to 2010.